A Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) is a smart card designed to be inserted in a mobile communication terminal and to store personal information (such as subscriber authentication information, contacts, and Short Messing Service (SMS) information for subscriber authentication and traffic security key generation processing) for use in attempting access to a mobile communication network such as Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), and Long Term Evolution (LTE). The UICC contains a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) application, a Universal SIM (USIM) application, and/or an IP Multimedia SIM (ISIM) application to give access to corresponding types of mobile communication networks, and it provides a high-level security function for supporting various applications such as an electronic wallet, an electronic ticketing, and an electronic passport.
Typically, the UICC is manufactured on demand from a mobile communication operator in the form of an operator-dedicated card storing authentication information (e.g., USIM application, IMSI, and K value) for use in access to the operator's network. Accordingly, the manufactured UICC is delivered to the subscriber via the mobile communication operator and, if necessary, applications are installed, updated, and deleted in the UICC by using a management technology such as Over The Air (OTA). The UICC is designed to be attachable/detachable to/from a mobile communication terminal such that the subscriber can install the UICC in the mobile communication terminal for use of the network and application services of the corresponding mobile communication operator and, when swapping the terminal for another one, easily transfer the authentication information, contact information, and phonebook to the new terminal.
The UICC has a physical shape and a logical function defined by an international standardization organization called the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) to maintain global compatibility. With regard to the form factor specifying the physical shape, the UICC is gradually being downsized from the most widely used Mini SIM to the Micro SIM that emerged a few years ago and finally to the recent Nano SIM. Although this contributes greatly to the compact design of mobile communication terminals, there will be no standardization for a UICC smaller in size than the recent Nano SIM because further downsizing of the UICC increases the risk of loss and makes it difficult to form a slot for receiving the excessively small UICC.
Meanwhile, a detachable UICC is not appropriate for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication devices (such as an intelligent electronic appliance, an electricity/water meter, and a Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV)), which connect to the mobile communication network without a user's manipulation in various installation environments.
In order to solve the above problems, installation in the manufacturing stage of the mobile communication terminal of a security module responsible for the functions of the legacy detachable UICC may be considered. However, this approach has drawbacks in that the security module embedded in a terminal without operator-specific authentication information (in so far as it is not dedicated to a specific mobile communication operator) allows only the user subscribed to a mobile communication operator to configure the authentication information (USIM application, IMSI, and K value) for use in the corresponding mobile communication network.
Also, unlike the legacy UICC, which is manufactured and distributed for a specific mobile communication operator, the newly introduced embedded security module has to meet requirements for allowing the user who has purchased the terminal to install and maintain the authentication information of various mobile communication operators securely and flexibly in the course of subscribing and unsubscribing to a specific mobile communication operator or switching the subscription between operators.